Around 19 of the 21 state-run banks reported losses for the fiscal, including country's largest lender SBI, while the otherwise resilient private sector banks were also not immune, with Axis Bank reporting its first quarterly loss.

The market breadth was in favour of the declines with 697 stocks advancing while 1006 declined and 347 remained unchanged. On the other hand, in the BSE, 1011 stocks advanced and 1486 declined and 167 remained unchanged.

Shares of UCO Bank plunged nearly 18 percent in morning trade after the CBI booked Arun Kaul, former chairman-cum-managing director of the lender, and others in connection with an alleged Rs 621-crore loan fraud.

The Nifty PSU banking index jumped 3.66 percent led by Bank of India which zoomed over 9 percent intraday on the back of recovery of Rs 7,000 crore from other banks. Punjab National Bank was up 4.3 percent while Andhra Bank zoomed over 5 percent.

The market breadth was in favour of the advances on Thursday morning with 804 stocks advancing as against 782 declines while 418 remained unchanged. On the other hand, 1051 stocks advanced and 948 stocks declined while 85 remained unchanged on the BSE.

The government had on October 24 unveiled a Rs 2.11 lakh crore two-year road map for strengthening NPA-hit public sector banks, which includes re-capitalisation bonds, budgetary support and equity dilution.